Teaching and Learning to the Highest Levels of Language Proficiency - Sharings from the Journal of Distinguished Language Proficiency and More (Book Review by N. Lord)
Book review from Issue 8 of the Journal for Distinguished Language Studies --
REVIEW
Dornyei,
Zoltan; Mentzelopoulos, Katarina
Lessons from
Exceptional Language Learners Who Have Achieved Nativelike Proficiency:
Motivation, Cognition and Identity
Channel View
Publications
2022
Series
Editors: Sarah Mercer, Universitat Graz, Austria and Stephen Ryan, Waseda
University, Japan
Psychology
of Language Learning and Teaching: 18
Bristol;
Jackson: Multilingual Matters, (2022)
Natalia Lord, Learning Consultation Service, School of
Language Studies, Foreign Service Institute (retired)
SUMMARY
This book analyzes the findings of a research project that
Zoltan Dornyei, a prolific and esteemed contributor to the field of language
learning, designed for his students at the University of Nottingham, when his
course, the Psychology of Bilingualism and Language Learning,
moved online. This is unfortunately a posthumous publication, for Zoltan
Dornyei passed away earlier this fall. His co-author Katarina Metzelopoulos
opens the volume by sharing her memories of working with him.
Dornyei had asked his
students to identify second language (L2) learning success stories, adult learners
who managed to achieve nativelike L2 proficiency studying their L2 after
puberty and without extensive experience in an L2 environment earlier. These champions
of language learning often pass as native speakers with interlocutors
conversing in their native language. They can blend in fully. His students
found thirty such elite language learners whose learning paths are described in
the companion volume, Stories from
Exceptional Language Learners Who Have Achieved Native like Proficiency. As
a group they did not take aptitude or proficiency tests.
This volume represents an in-depth, qualitative research
report following academic conventions, while the companion publication presents
the unique life narratives of those thirty individuals who arrived at native
like L2 proficiency.
EVALUATION
Both volumes are of interest to anyone interested in the
process of language learning: in teaching, counseling, or seeking to improve an
already very high level of L2. The stories are irresistible and an examination
of chapter topics reveals attention to such important topics as: forging an L2
identity, sources of persistence, attention to pronunciation, intensive effort
and strategic learning, cognition and other facilitative learner
characteristics, a unique bond with the chosen language, to name a few. While a
review of the literature on exceptional language learners is presented in the
first chapter, every chapter includes references to previous studies that are
relevant to what is being discussed in that chapter. There are eleven pages of
reference works that are used effectively throughout the volume to help place
these learners’ experiences and insights into the continuum of exploring L2
learning at the highest levels of achievement. In discussing learning
strategies, for example:
“What emerges from the existing reviews (Bierdon & Pawlak,
2016: Hyltenstam et al., 2018; Leaver & Campbell, 2014; Moyer, 2021) is
that native like and near-native like learners adopt highly personalized
learning strategies and are, in fact, often largely self-taught.”(p.7)
Canadian participant Kristopher is a case in point. He
started studying Mandarin in high school after a very negative experience with
French in grade school. Kristopher met a Chinese family and asked if he could
visit them. Every day after school he just sat with them in their living room,
listening. He started to learn Japanese at the age of 22 while living in the country. There he visited a local pub to just sit and listen
to everyone around him. He didn’t speak to others in the early stages of his
language learning. He is currently a professor of Japanese literature in Japan. He is taken for
a native speaker (when his interlocutors are not able to see him) in both
Mandarin and Japanese.
For Kristopher, as well as for many of the other
participants, the role of pronunciation was of paramount importance. An entire
chapter is devoted to this sub-skill. Kristopher strove to get each tone
exactly right. He also sang Japanese folk songs with a group. Timur, from
Kazakhstan, worked on his English with linguistic programs and was thus able to
identify that his initial “T” sounds needed to be aspirated. Joy, a Canadian
living in Iceland, strove to sound like her husband. She was both musical,
regularly singing in church, and a good mimic. Others referred to mimicking their
interlocutors, whether consciously or unconsciously. For many, music played an
important role in their L2 and they
identified as being musically inclined, but at least 10% of the participants called
attention to their being musically challenged.
The authors wonder whether current trends that pay only
cursory attention to pronunciation in foreign language (FL) education haven’t impeded
some highly successful FL learners from crossing over into the group studied
here. They suggest that FL learners can perhaps turn to the acting profession
for inspiration and guidance. Actor Amy Walker has a YouTube channel focused on
accents and a coaching practice, for example. Actors wishing to audition for a
wider variety of roles work on specific accents to depict a character they
might not normally play. Conquering the accent allows them to enter a new
world, just as the participants of this study were able to fully enter their L2
identities.
Previous studies of very advanced students have focused primarily
on educated adult learners in professional training programs of various types (Leaver,
Ehrman & Shekhtman, 2005 and Leaver, 2003). There has been a prescriptive
element in evidence suggesting many possible ways to enrich the program and the
instruction, as well as the self- efficacy of the learner.
This study, however, provides no such practical suggestions. The
group studied here is younger. Two participants are 16 and four others are in
their 20s. Many are immigrants and their educational backgrounds vary
considerably. This study may not be particularly relevant for academic FL
teaching and learning. It could, however, be very useful for all those working
with immigrant FL programs in high school and community college. It could also
benefit student counselors and the students themselves who may need to
be inspired by those who overcame various obstacles to achieving nativelike
proficiency. The ability to become linguistically indistinguishable from one’s
peer group is profoundly significant and life-changing for an immigrant. The
current study begins to explore this. It is a good start and there is much more
to be learned.
See Table of Contents for other reviews.
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